The New Kid at the Frick
Last Friday, the Upper East Side’s Frick Collection inaugurated its first new gallery space in almost 35 years, consisting of an enclosed portico on the mansion’s Fifth Avenue side. Architectural firm Davis Brody Bond oversaw the transformation with a light hand, incorporating the Portico’s original colonnaded superstructure and bluestone floor while using glazed windows and improved lighting to enclose the space and preserve its outdoor feel. On view currently is “White Gold: Highlights From the Arnhold Collection of Meissen Porcelain,” a preview exhibition of works from Europe’s first porcelain factory (1 E. 70th St., at Fifth Ave.; 212-288-0700; frick.org).
A Shoe Store for Starchitects
Spanish footwear brand Camper tapped renowned Japanese architect Shigeru Ban (best known locally for the Metal Shutter House condos in West Chelsea) for its third local boutique. Ban’s design includes a vertical garden of 32 aspidistra plants, a dry moss-covered cashwrap counter, and perception-bending cubby shelves that display shoes from a diagonal angle rather than straight-on (110 Prince St., nr. Greene St.).
Behind the Eames
In case you missed it Monday night on PBS, New York’s IFC Center is showing the documentary Eames: The Artist and the Painter, about the extraordinary lives and relationship of Charles and Ray Eames. The film is the first about the designers since their deaths in 1978 and 1988, respectively, and the first time the couple’s (not brothers’, as is often thought) complicated personal relationship has been brought to light. Of course, the film is still largely about the work, from the Pacific Palisades dreamhouse they built for themselves to the iconic furniture still coveted for its simplicity and humor. Should you want any more reminding of the Eames’s colossal influence, Herman Miller, which manufactured their best-known designs, has created an online timeline of their work (323 Sixth Ave., nr. W. 3rd St.; check ifccenter.com for showtimes).
Is That an I-Beam or a Weather Vane?
After a successful installation on Governors Island this summer, sculptor Mark di Suvero and Storm King Art Center have installed another one of his works, “Yoga,” on the lawn at Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 1. The 30-foot-tall sculpture will remain here for a year, and kicks off a continuing program of public-art installations at the park. Like other Di Suvero works, “Yoga” uses complex structures on a monumental scale, in this case an I-beam that has been bent in half and placed atop a pole to pivot and shift with the wind (Furman St. and Doughty St., Brooklyn; brooklynbridgepark.org).